


Books and Romance

by grantairess



Series: The Romance of Elias and Adam [1]
Category: Basic Instinct (Movies), Mænd & høns | Men & Chicken (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, BabyBullFest, F/F, M/M, Rom-com, babybullfest2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 00:38:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18728140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grantairess/pseuds/grantairess
Summary: Elias works in a bookstore. Adam is a celebrity on the run. they fall in love.





	Books and Romance

After his brother left to find their family Elias stopped knowing what to do with himself in his free time. He and Gabriel didn’t tend to spend a lot of their free time together anyway, but having nobody around him understood him as a person was kind of upsetting. 

Gabriel didn’t call when he got there, not that Elias expected him to. He was starting to think that he might not be Gabriel’s favorite person. Which couldn’t be his fault because he never did anything to his brother? He loved his brother, they were best friends.

Maybe Gabriel was his best friend, and he wasn’t his… trying not to think about it too much Elias moved. Moving for Elias was scary, though he pretended loudly it wasn’t when he was searching for an apartment in England. He decided that this would be the best place to move because he knew the language and he every time he heard somebody talk about beautiful women they were from here. Maybe he could make one of them his best friend. That way he didn’t have to talk to his brother ever again. 

The rejection from his brother sometimes made him cry at night, but his tears were hidden in his blanket and there was nobody else in his one-room apartment that could see him cry. So it didn’t count.

His apartment was small, but he had everything in it that he could ever want. He had photo albums of him and Gabriel. He had glass animals that he bought at local thrift stores. He kept a very clean house, not like any kind of a mess. His dishes were done when he was finished with them, his tiny one-room vacuumed once maybe twice a day. He had to buy new clothes when he moved, noticing he didn’t fit in with the locals. They weren’t as new, also from a local thrift store, but Elias for the first time felt good when he puts on his clothes so he took very good care of them.

He had a job at a local bookstore. He loved being around books, the smell always made him feel soothed inside. He mostly did the heavy lifting, but sometimes people would ask him about certain books and he would get to spend a few hours telling them about all the cool things animals did, or what math theory was his favorite. He enjoyed being able to talk to people. His English got better with actually using it every day, instead of just knowing it from a book. His boss was a petite lady with a stern face. Usually, he would have tried to hit on her, but she honestly scared him. She also had a very pretty wife, who had a kind smile, though underneath it all she kind of scared him too. He thinks they are rich because he knows Margot pays him way to much for what he does.

 He does have a degree in books, so maybe that’s why he gets paid so much. Eventually, Margot slowly started to trust him, and on Mondays and Tuesday, he gets to run the store all by himself. Somebody having that sort of trust in him made his heart feel like it was going to burst.

He had been running the store on Mondays and Tuesday for about a month when he meets Adam for the first time. Adam is wearing large sunglasses and a hat. He’s peacoat is buttoned up all the way, and he walks into the empty store like he owns it. Elias doesn’t look up at him, not one to talk to guests unless they talk to him. Nervous he will make somebody uncomfortable, or they will make fun of his accent. He had a few people do that, mocking him like he was stupid or something. That was upsetting.

The man, Adam who he didn’t yet know was Adam hid in the back corner of the store. It was the real crime section, Elias avoided it because it upset him. He didn’t like seeing dead bodies, the images always following him to his dreams. The man sat in one of the over plush couches and lets out a loud enough sigh that you can hear it around the store. Elias realizes that he’s been staring at him and looks away going back to stock up the children's books. The store wasn’t overly large, so even though they are in very different sections they are no more than twenty feet away from each other. After a few minutes of stocking, Elias feels eyes on him and he turns around to look at the man. He had taken his sunglasses off and was looking at Elias like he was shocked they let animals in the store. Elias felt anxiety tug at his heart.

“Do you work here?” His voice was overly posh, English accent weaving through his words.

“Of course I do. What does it look like? I have a visa and everything.”He felt anxiety thrumming through his veins and automatically tries to become professional. “Do you need something? This is a bookstore.” He had his arms crossed in front of him and tries to appear taller.

The man doesn’t seem all that impressed by him though. “You just didn’t work here last time I was here. I’m a friend of Margot's. Adam. I was hoping she would be here.” Standing up, he throws his scarf over his shoulder and Elias gets his first good look at his face.  He was very pretty, soft features, bright blue eyes. He had lips that women usually had and Elias immediately felt like he was making a fool of himself by just standing there staring at him.

“I run the store on Mondays and Tuesdays.” He says it proudly, still shocked that somebody trusted him with something as important as running their store. He was overfilled with his affection for Margot and her wife.

Adam smiles at him, he had a nice smile. Like he knew all the secrets in your head and was just waiting to tell you. Elias immediately liked his smile and felt a blush happen on his cheeks.  He wasn’t gay but if he was, he could tell why somebody would find him attractive.

“Ah… is it okay if I hide here for a while? I’m… hiding?” Elias watches Adam with a confused face. He would like to spend some more time around the attractive stranger. But hiding was never a good thing, hiding came with secrets and Elias was no good with secrets. “Please, I will owe you a favor.” He looked Elias in the eyes, and Elias felt warm all over. Adam didn’t stare blankly at his lip, and he was attractive.  Elias nods agreeing, not sure he was able to say no to the pretty blue eyes of the man in front of him.

“I mean… Margot wouldn’t be upset about it. Sure stay. Please don’t make a mess, but do pick out a book! There is a lot to choose from.” Elias smiles but turns away so that he can go back to work. Adam nods, silently going to pick up a fantasy book and sits quietly in the corner. The shop is slow that day, and Elias gets all of his chores done. Around lunch, he nervously flits around Adam not wanting to bother him but also needing to close the store for the usual hour so that he can eat the lunch that he packed himself.  

“What are you doing?” Elias jumps the book in his hand flying across the room. Adam was standing behind him his eyes amused.  Elias feels his face go red, staring at him with wide eyes.

“My job.”

“You know that’s not what I mean. You look so nervous that I can feel it.” His British accent soothed in Elias in a way that he had never felt before. Fearing his ‘issue’ would become more of an issue in the present moment Elias took a seat and crossed his legs.

“It’s lunch. I don’t want to have to kick you out because you are hiding, but I have to close the store and I am not allowed to keep customers in here when it is closed. Even if you are a friend of Margot's. It’s against the rule book.” Which he had read, very thoroughly, at least twice.  Adam sat across from him and crosses his leg mimicking him and looked him over like he was trying to find his secrets. Elias fixes his sweater nervously self-conscious of his stomach showing.

“Can’t you break the rules once? How bad can it be, to just break them just the once?” Adam leaned forward putting his elbow on his knee and flashes thick eyelashes at Elias. Elias flushed brightly and crossed his legs more tightly. He was going to have to go to the bathroom to fix his ‘issue’.  He had never had this reaction to a male before, or so he told himself. Usually said the male wasn’t the only one in a very small bookstore with him.

“I guess I can… I don’t have lunch for two though.” he walks over to the door and puts the sign to closed. Looking at back at Adam, Ellis quietly excused himself to the back room to deal with his ‘issue’.

~~~~

Elias was sitting on the floor as Adam lay across it. He had used his coat as a pillow and was talking widely about an orgy he had accidentally walked into. Elias had been laughing so hard he felt tears at the corner of his eyes.  Adam had eaten most of Elia’s food, but Elias hadn’t minded because of how much he had enjoyed the conversation. Adam didn’t seem to think anything bad about how Elias was… which was a comfort Elias didn’t think anybody ever had looked at him in that way.

“... I don’t think I walked correctly for a week. My ex-girlfriend used that against me multiple times.” Adam sighed deeply at this thought, the mood going from light to dark very quickly.

“Why are you hiding Adam? Not that I am not enjoying spending time with you! But I can’t figure out why you would be hiding in a bookstore. You seem to have so many friends, and you’re job sounds so cool. Going from place to place, and digging up secrets. What do you have to hide from?” Elias nervously messes with the sleeves of his sweater not wanting to upset his new friend, but also not like knowing that there is a huge secret in the person in front of him. He didn’t like lies and secrets.

“I did something stupid.” Adam sits up, looks Elias right in the eyes his face open with honesty. Elias nods, trying to be understanding. He has done stuff that was stupid before, multiple times and has had a hard time understanding what he was doing. “ I was trying to get in on a story with the wrong type of man. It got complicated. Messy. Now everybody knows about it, and I’m being hunted by a journalist the same way I have always hunted. Now I’m in hiding. Which would be fine. I know how to hide until press calms down. But somebody broke into my apartment last night. So I came here, looking for calling a favor from Margot. Though, spending the day with a nice man is not worse in any way.” He smiles lighting up his whole face and making Elias’s stomach warm at the sight of him. “Tell me about yourself Elias. Why are you in England anyway? You seem a little older...than most people who would be working in a bookstore.”

Elias was almost offended, but even he knew it was true. He was closing in on fifty. He was too old to move countries with no real prospects. “My brother left after my father died. I don’t have any close friends… I wanted to do something different. Plus Margot is nice. I wrote textbooks back home, but now I get to be surrounded by books and put no effort into writing them. It’s nice…”He trails off at the end kind of embarrassed. Adam was some big important person, and Elias was just some foreigners who came here because he couldn’t deal with his family issues. Maybe he should look into getting a real therapist.

Adam listened closely the whole time, which made Elias feel important. Because of this important guy was listening to him. Then maybe he was important?

“You like working here don’t you? That’s so sweet…”Adam trails off when his phone starts ringing and he stands up to take the call a few feet away. Elias tried not to listen to the call wanting to give Adam his privacy.  Adam sounded frustrated though.

When Adam finally got off the phone he shoves it angrily in his pocket, and Elias looked at him with a concerned face. He was too sweet looking to be angry Elias decided. Elias thought even more so after their conversation that he was beautiful. Just the thought embarrassed Elias and he felt his face go red.

“I guess I have to leave. The police are at my apartment and my landlord is upset. I mean, it’s not my fault somebody broke into my apartment and tried to strangle me, but police hold a lot of grudges against me and are probably being extremely messy…”He sighs after he says it grabbing his coats and putting them on. Elias stands up, not wanting him to leave but not having a good excuse for why he should stay. “It was nice to meet you all the same Elias. Thank you for amusing me for a few hours.” He smiles at him, and Elias feels himself getting upset. He tries to swallow the bitter words that hang in the back of his throat knowing they would only make sure that Adam never came back.  Adam’s smile turns into a frown like he can read Elias’s thoughts in his head. “I can come back some time? If you would like that?”

“I would.” Elias didn’t say much else to Adam before he left. He didn’t think he would come back. Adam was probably just pretending to enjoy his presence so that he would be able to come back and hide. The story got busy after he left, Elias spent the day glaring at customers and not answering questions like he usually would.

~~~

Elias’s bad mood faded with the week. Alana, Margot’s wife, came to watch the store with him on Friday. She always put him in a good mood because she always seemed so happy. She was American, which Elias usually saw as pretty unfriendly people. But she walked in at 8 am sharp with sweet coffee’s and Elias’s favorite croissant. He had told Margot about Adam, she didn’t seem surprised, having missed some phone calls from him. Margot warned Elias to not worry about Adam, he was very flakey and mostly unfriendly unless you could give him something. 

Margot’s warning joined his already Adam filled head. He couldn’t stop thinking about him, he seemed so nice from the hour they spent on the floor. He couldn’t imagine that he would be unfriendly or flakey. Flakey, probably because he had yet to return. Elias tried not to get his hopes up. Somebody like Adam did not want somebody like him. Not that Elias wanted him in any way. He was just some attractive guy. Stupid.

Alana was watching him out of the corner of her eyes all day with an amused smile on his face. His emotions always showed on his face easily, which means she was probably reading him as easily as a children’s book.

“What has you thinking so hard Elias?” Alana was a doctor, which Elias was very impressed by. She wasn’t one of the body, but of the mind which Elias had been even more impressed by.

“I’m not thinking of anything. I’m stocking books,” he explains it simply, trying to throw her off. It probably didn’t work, but it was worth a try. He had a huge box of the newest horror series going around. He wasn’t a big fan of horror books, preferring things about science or real-life things. Real-life was scary enough without trying to write to make it scarier. “What are you thinking about Ms. Alana?” He wonders if distracting her will work, and he hopes hard that she won’t mention Adam. He had asked after Adam the next day he worked with Margot and he was sure that she and Alana had spoken of it.

“I’m thinking about how nice you look today, Mr. Elias.”She made the whole sentence flirty, which made Elias goes red in the face. He did put extra effort into his looks today, hoping today would be the day Adam came back. Just the thought made his face go red, ashamed that he cared what the other man thought, and ashamed that he had let himself think he would come back.

“ So do you.” He walks away from her hoping to hide how red his face was turning. He can hear her laughing a few feet away.

~~~

He closes up the shop, humming to himself as he locks the door. He jumps when he hears someone clear their throat behind him. The keys in his hands go up in the air and he turns quickly to see who it was. Letting out the air in his lungs when he sees Adam. He’s dressed nicer than before soft brown coat, his face was visible his hair framing his face. Elias looks at him with wide eyes silently as Adam kneels to pick up the keys he had dropped.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Adam takes his hands and presses the keys into it. Elias’s face goes red and he stares down at their joined hands and moves his away quickly his face red.

“You didn’t. I’m not easily scared. Why are you here?” Elias doesn’t look at his face, looking down at his shoes. He was embarrassed because he could ever hear his “why did it take you so long to come back?” Elias has always had problems being clingy.  His brother had always complained about it.

“I thought I’d come to see you... Margot let me know when you would close. I can leave if you want?” Adam’s eyes are searching for something in his face. Elias wasn’t sure what he found but he saw Adam deflate, Adam steps back disappointed. Elias' hand clenches on the key in his hand, feeling anxiety.

“You can’t!” Elias takes a deep breath to calm himself breathing out harshly through his nose. “I mean, you don’t have to. It’s nice to see you. Or guess that it is nice to see you..”He was talking quickly, his hands deep in his pocket to stare at him with wide eyes.

“It’s nice to see you too. Are you hungry? We could get dinner.” Adam had light eyes, they seemed to change from blue to green. Elias thought he was beautiful, and he had to press his lips together to make sure that he didn’t say it to him.

“That sounds… nice. What kind of dinner are you thinking?” Elias starts walking to the right, expecting Adam to follow him. When he does, Elias has started to feel a bubble of happiness in his chest that he wasn’t used to.

“A date. I was thinking we could go on a dinner date. If you are interested?” Elias freezes and turns to stare at Adam with wide eyes. Adam has a slight flush on his cheeks, but he’s staring Elias down like he was daring him to argue with him. He was fierce, in a way that Elias immediately admired.

“Why would you want to go on a date with me… You are just messing with me, aren’t you? That’s very rude.” Elias feels tears start in his eyes and he has to breathe deeply to try to ignore them

“I wasn’t trying to upset you! I’m not lying to you Elias. I …”He stands up fully straight, still a good few inches shorter than Elias. He had a determined look in his eyes. “I had a lot of fun when I spent the day with you. I wanted to get to know you better.”

“I’m not gay.” Elias feels tears streak down his face after he says it looking down hoping that he would be able to hide it from Adam. Adam’s eyes go wide at his tears and he takes a full step back. “So no date. I’m sorry. You will find somebody else I’m sure.” Elias takes off after this, running as fast as he can. He reaches his apartment in a blur of thought. He rushes in seeking the smallness of it. He locks all his locks and slides down the door to sit on the floor and cry.

He hates himself at that moment, feeling a bloom of loneliness in his chest. He should have said something else. But he panicked. He couldn’t imagine getting attached to somebody like Adam. Who had physical beauty and a smart brain? Nobody like that could honestly like somebody like Elias, with his funny lip and intelligence. Nobody like Adam would ever want Elias. Elias didn’t trust himself to not get attached to Adam and feared he already was.

~~~

He’s unhappy for the next month. It’s one of the longest months of his life. He calls his brother in a moment of weakness and when he gets no answer he feels sadder.  He cries while he puts up books which makes Margot more concerned about him. He refuses to talk about what had happened. He refused to talk about he guessed because the second he saw Alana that week he started crying and they had to close the store early because it wasn’t worth having the store open if half of the employees that worked there was in the back crying.

“I don’t think he was playing a joke on you Elias. I think you might have been in the wrong there…”Her voice was harsh but she was being honest. Elias sobs get louder and Alana starts rubbing his back. “You have no problem with me and Margot I don’t understand…”

“I’m not homophobic.. I’m just not gay.” Alana rubs his back when he hears the door open, the light bell ringing. Margot walks in and waves a bottle of alcohol at him. Alana makes a soothing noise as she continues to rub his back.

“Are we having a gay crisis? Those are the only crisis I’m good at.” She opens the bottle, pulling the cork out with her teeth and offers the bottle to Elias who tentatively takes a sip. Very expensive tequila. Elias usually drunk very cheap beer, and this was very different. He tries to offer back to Margot, who takes it and takes a long chug.  Elias takes this as a cue to take it and took a long drink. They were getting shit drunk in the middle of the floor at his jobs now.

“This is slightly unreasonable.” Saying this didn’t stop Alana from taking a sip of alcohol.

Elias shakes his head in reply to Margot. “I’m not gay. I don’t know why everybody thinks I am.” Tears started welling up in his eyes and Margot sits beside him her hand joining Alana’s at rubbing his back.

“You don’t have to be gay Elias. But… Have you ever actually been with a woman?”Elias lets out a small sob at Margot’s question.

“Of course I have!” Alana lets out shushing noises, she had started petting his hair making him lean into her. He mumbled under his breath, feeling his face go blood-red in the worst way. “... I haven’t.”

“That’s okay! There’s nothing wrong with that.”  Elias frowns, more upset at that. He was closing end on fifty, of course, there was something wrong with the fact that he had never been with a woman.

“That’s not true and you know it, Alana.” He lets out another sob putting his face in his hands.

“Maybe it’s a little weird, but maybe it’s because you didn’t honestly want to Elias. It doesn’t have to reflect badly on you. Was your family homophobic?”

Elias shrugs “I wouldn’t say… they were accepting. My brother dated women so that’s what I always did. Or tried to do. It never really worked out… if I was, what would that make me? I’m old and… not attractive. Adam was surely just playing a trick on me. Why would anybody want me?” He gestures down to himself, oversized sweater and slightly too big pants. He was clean, but he knew that everybody thought he was ugly. With his deformed lip and messy curls. His nose was too fat. He could go on forever, thinking of all the things people had ever said to him. Disgusting because of his problem.

“Shut up! You are not unattractive. Just because you might not be everybody's type doesn’t mean your not somebody's.” Margot smacked his hand lightly and frowned at him. Alana leaned over to take the alcohol away from her seemed to decide that she had enough.

“Come on, Elias. I’ll drive you home.” Alana rubs his back as they walk out. When she drops him off, she hands him Adam’s phone number.

~~~

Calling Adam was way harder than he thought it would be. He was nervous. He sweated through two shirts before he gave up and just took a shower.  There has to be a simpler way to do this. He wished he could see Adam face to face wanting to see his expression so he would know if the other still liked him in any way or if it was all in his brain.

After getting out of the shower he started his chores for the day. Humming under his breath as he washed the dishes. He hears a knock on his door and confused he walks over to it. He wasn’t expecting any company. In his confusion, he doesn’t stop to check who it just opens the door.

Adam is standing there. He looks beautiful windswept and dressed up. He has high heeled boots on that wouldn’t look strange on a woman. A green scarf is wound around his neck. Elias stands there in confusion. Adam smiles, shy and sweet that makes something in Elias’s chest ache. He was twice as beautiful as any woman that he had ever seen.

“I’m sorry, I’m not here to bother you, Elias. I just… wanted to see you. Can I come in? I don’t want to do this in the hallway.”  Elias silently steps out of the way. He didn’t know what to say feeling anxiety thrumming to his veins. Closing the door silently behind him, he watches as Adam makes his way to his old couch. There were homemade blankets on it, he washed them himself. He remembers finding them when his father died. Or the man he thought was his father. Watching Adam sit next to them on the couch brought him a strange thrill.

“It’s good to see you, Adam.” He means it honestly. He doesn’t sit with Adam nervously stepping side to side a few feet away.

“It’s good to see you too… I know this sounds ridiculous. We barely know each other. But I can’t seem to stop thinking about you. I know you… were upset last time we saw each other.” It was so weird to see somebody who seemed so outwardly confident seem so shy. Elias didn’t understand why somebody like that would be shy about talking to him. “But I keep thinking about you putting your books away. About how you laughed. I didn’t want the last time I saw you be you upset, it puts a sour note to you that I didn’t enjoy.”

“You are not here because Alana called you?”

“No?” Adam stands up, putting soft hands in Elias’s face.

Elias' eyes start watering. Touch starved he closes his eyes enjoying the warmth.

“I’m sorry I got upset. I just..”

“No, I get it. Sexuality is hard. I planned to leave you alone. Let you figure it out. But instead. I kept thinking about you… eventually, I tracked down your address. Which makes me sound like a crazy man I know. I just couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“I’ve been thinking about you too Adam.” Elias could feel tears running down his face. Adam makes a shushing sound, taking Elias’s hand moving them to the couch so he could cuddle the much taller Elias to him. Elias lets out a small sob as he wraps his arms around Adam. He smells like an expensive cologne. His shirt is soft against Elias’ cheek.

“I understand if you don’t want to… But I enjoy being around you Elias. Maybe we could be friends?”

“Maybe we could go on a date? You don’t have to.. I understand if you are upset with how I acted…” Elias didn’t get to finish his sentence, Adam pressed his lips to his. The kiss was soft, barely a press of their lips together. Elias could feel himself heat all over.

“I would like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> For Elias week! Elias is so precious to me. I hope somebody enjoys this. I loved reading it. 
> 
> Also, I have no idea where I got Elias writing college textbooks. I thought it was from the movie but it might be from a fanfiction?
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/grantairess)   
> 


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